The man, a musician who was employed by the cruise line, faces charges of possessing and smuggling child pornography.

He has been detained in Halifax and was scheduled to appear in Nova Scotia provincial court on Tuesday.

Searches common

A spokesman from the CBSA said searches aboard cruise ships are common because every ship and passenger that arrives in Canada has to be cleared by the organization.

"Some are selected for a more intensive search than others based on a number of variables," said Albert Price. "In this case, the officers decided to conduct a search, and they ended up searching electronic media in this crew member's cabin, and they... found child pornography at that point."

Price wouldn't say what lead investigators to search that specific cabin.

He said out of all the searches conducted on vessels in the Atlantic region, only a handful have uncovered child porn: